September 22
Andy has proven his guiding
skills before the day really began: he inquired about when the SUGAR group was
to have breakfast and then scheduled ours half an hour before. This meant
getting up early but it also meant that it would be a quiet experience. And it
was good! After breakfast I again called Essan, then we packed up and left the
camp around 9, heading to the northern Serengeti. It was amazing to see how
quickly the scenery was changing once we left camp: everything got much greener
pretty much instantly, and more populated. We drove through one long noodle
shaped town which didn't want to end, seeing lots of brick houses and cattle,
and even power lines, something we haven't seen in ages. We stopped at the
Galaxy Motel for refueling and enjoyed the originally labeled restroom / wall.
Not far from this village was a prison. We weren't allowed to take pictures in
this restricted area, so you have to take my word for it, but it was a prison
unlike any other I've seen. It was like a small village, with people of various
ages as well as cattle roaming the streets - and then some barracks with
prisoners in orange jump suits working around. No fence. No guards that I could
see. I guess this wasn't a maximum security prison, but still - I guess it's
neat when you can rely on lions doing the duty of security.
Click on the first image
to start a slide show for this day (48 pictures)
Images shown below are a small selection.
In slide show, click on image to return to index.
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From the prison it was not
far to the entrance to the Serengeti National Park. Unlike in the south, as soon
as we entered we were surrounded by various types of antelope and wildebeest and
all the other staple animals. Did I mention that it was nice and green? I like
it green. That's why I like Oregon and Washington. Ok, it wasn't quite so green
here, but the animals were cooler too. However, at first we didn't go on a game
drive but rather to check in at the camp, and have lunch. Lunch was quite simple
for me - salad with some fries, since both main courses were contaminated with
cheese, and as you know cheese is my mortal enemy. This certainly further added
to my weight loss, which was not a bad thing.
After lunch we went for a game drive, and suddenly it felt very much like the
southern Serengeti: where are the animals? It was pretty tough to spot a zebra,
and you know you're in trouble when you can't see those. The other notable
difference to the southern Serengeti was the equal absence of people. While in
the south we would have forty something cars watching the one confused zebra,
here was literally nobody. And because it was more green it was less dusty, on a
relative scale anyway.
Towards the end of the afternoon trip our wildlife watching was saved by some
giraffes and hippos in the Mara River. Graham was trying to capture some hippo
grunting noises on his audio recorder, but he pretty much got just a recording
of some of our grunting, making fun of him. When he eventually gave up and
turned off the recorder the hippos went into overdrive and performed a minor
opera performance. Poor Graham.
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On the way back to camp I
went trigger happy with some sunset and cloud shots, all the way to the death of
the 5D battery. Because I simply could not decide which ones to post here you'll
have to suffer through way too many. Since I was again riding with Valerie and
Pete, and both Val and I could easily agree on clouds and trees, we were the
last car to arrive in camp - very much to Derek's bewilderment. We arrived so
late that Jim had even finished taking a shower before I even marched through
the tent door. And what a hot shower it was! Absurdly hot, Essan would have
approved.
At dinner we were discussing the inevitable upcoming flight home. It seems that
I was the only one who spoke up and told Thomson that the suggested return
flight was unacceptable and that I wanted something else. Therefore, only Andy
and I would get home on the same day as arriving in Amsterdam - everyone else
would get stuck in Boston overnight and be forced to spend the night before
continuing the next day. Instead, Andy would fly from Amsterdam non-stop to
Houston, and I to San Francisco. As a result I would arrive in the Bay Area 28
hours before David and Luvonne. I guess sometimes it pays to be a pain in
someone else's butt...